april.

April was full of pollen, warm temperatures followed by 45-degree days, pushing through school work amidst spring fever, and Easter festivities.

Two of our friends that Amie babysits for gave her a gift card for a manicure, so I took her and Caroline the week before Easter. It was Amie’s first manicure!

 

 

That same evening, we hosted some of the girls from church to help fill eggs and gift bags for our church Easter egg hunt. This is becoming a very fun annual tradition.

 

We had a Good Friday church service, then the picnic and cookout Saturday afternoon. The weather was perfect; it was my favorite of our Easter Saturday picnics. After we gathered our plates of BBQ and sides, the staff assigned us to tables to eat. This was a genius idea because people were able to make new friends and no one had that scary find-a-table-in-the-lunchroom feeling. I was able to talk to a family I’ve never gotten to know. (photos from the picnic are by Chrissy Hutchinson)

 

 

 

He is risen!!!

 

On Easter evening Amie and I made an epic charcuterie board, and David sent the kids on a neighborhood-wide scavenger hunt for their Easter gift while the adults chatted over lemon mojitos. Kira is feeling very smug these days as Mum Mum’s current favorite grandchild.

 

Some Easters we scratch our heads to figure out what to get the kids (which is why they did an Easter egg hunt with dollar bills last year), but this year the stars aligned and we knew just what everyone wanted.

 

 

 

Later in the month, our friends Claire, Julie, and James came for a sleepover. It was James, Gabe, and Noah’s first non-family sleepover. Those boys burned the candle at both ends between scouring the yard with headlamps for bugs at 10:00 pm, and battling with pool noodles on the trampoline at 7:00 am.

 

 

That afternoon, David planned the perfect date: day camping. He got us a lake-front campsite at Dreher Island State Park, and we spent the most blissful afternoon reading in the sun (me), exploring on the paddleboard (David), then cooking filet mignon in a cast iron skillet over the fire for dinner.

 

 

 

Now we’re full of plans to do more car camping as a family. Amie and I pointed out to David that Kira can have her own complete camping set-up when we go (I’m just wondering what dog would actually climb into a sleeping bag).

 

In all honesty, April was kind of a low month for puppy-owning. She was out of control! I scoured the internet for advice, watched every YouTube video I could find on puppy hyper-ness and play nipping and whining in her crate, we gave her tons of exercise, and nothing seemed to work. Then our friends gave us an e-training collar and told us it would change our lives. And it did! I know they can be controversial, but we use the vibrate setting and always tell her a firm “No” first before giving her a buzz. It works so well. Now when we say “No” she actually listens 90% of the time. And best of all, she’s settling down into the family routine instead of the family revolving around her.

 

Last weekend a friend at church had a wedding shower, and Jeanette invited Amie and I over to give us an informal flower-arranging class. It was so much fun. I enjoyed myself immensely but our artistic Amie really loved it. Two of Jeanette’s girls joined in, and we had a great time making the arrangements for the shower and learning lots of new tips.

 

 

We went strawberry picking with a few friends and I spent the afternoon washing and freezing several gallon-bags for our smoothies. They are delicious, as always.

 

 

And that’s about it! We finished up the soccer season and did standardized testing and enjoyed all the vibrant colors of South Carolina spring.